1. Field
This invention relates to trailers of various configurations. More particularly, the invention is directed to trailers adapted for retrieving and transporting marine vehicles, such as boats, across land and thereafter launching those vehicles into a body of water.
2. State of the Art
In the last several decades, public interest in boating as a recreational activity has increased markedly. Boats capable of carrying a small number of passengers have become an affordable expenditure for many families. As the number of boats has increased, the limited number of docks and permanent moorings have been overtaxed and have proven inadequate in providing on-water storage facilities for many of the new boats. Those boat owners unable to find or afford permanent mooring space have found it necessary to remove their boats from the water and transport them over land to storage facilities. Many boat owners have found it desirable to be able to transport their boats over land from one body of water to another, thereby increasing the number of aquatic environments that can be enjoyed.
These transport activities have created a need for trailer-like structures adapted for retrieving a boat from a first body of water, loading that boat on the trailer structure and thereafter transporting the boat over land. Further, these trailers should be adapted for launching a boat into a second body of water.
Various innovative efforts in designing boat-carrying trailers have yielded structures which have addressed several of the problems inherent in retrieving, loading, transporting and launching marine-type vehicles. Among these structures are the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,285 (Plummer) discloses an elongate trailer having a pair of oppositely positioned guides affixed on the end thereof. Pivotedly mounted to the frame, the guides are biased one toward another to permit an incoming boat to pass therebetween. The guides act as a means of aligning the boat to facilitate a placement thereof on the trailer frame during a floatation-assisted landing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,138 (Whiteley) discloses a boat trailer having a pair of spacedly positioned, longitudinally extending, parallelly arranged guide rails. The guide rails are positioned and configured to guide an incoming water-borne boat onto the trailer. A fixed bow centering guide positioned at the forward end of the trailer also assists in aligning the incoming boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,639 (Lothen) discloses a conventional boat trailer having a pair of narrow, parallel elongate tracks longitudinally and centrally positioned thereon. The tracks include a small, bow-supporting carriage which coacts with side-placed conventional stationary rollers to facilitate the loading and launching of a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,391 (Prince) illustrates a boat trailer having telescoping frames. One of the frames is articulated for movement, allowing that frame to follow the contour of a launching ramp.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,168 (Mauck) discloses a conventional boat trailer having two pairs of elongate, parallelly positioned, longitudinally arranged tracks. A plurality of carriages, each having a plurality of rotatably mounted wheels which engage with a respective pair of tracks, are adapted to be displaced longitudinally along the tracks to either unload or receive a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,920 (Boettcher) discloses a fastening assembly adapted for securing a boat to a trailer. The fastening assembly includes a "V-shaped" cradle configuration to engage the opposite sides of the bow of a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,772 (Beelow) discloses a trailer for use in transporting pontoon-type boats. A movable framework is mounted on the trailer for use in lowering a boat carried thereon into the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,577 (Pilant) discloses a trailer adapted for transporting two boats. The trailer may also be utilized to form a framework for a tent-like shelter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,513 (Hosie) discloses a releasable pulley device adapted for releasably detachable mounting on the center rear end of a winch-fitted boat trailer. The pulley is designed to effect an alignment of the prow of an incoming boat with the trailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,212 (Weary) illustrates a boat trailer having a pair of longitudinally extending, parallel, spacedly positioned tracks and a carriage slidably mounted thereto. The carriage has an upright stanchion mounted thereto configured to abut against a boat loaded on the trailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,923 (Lubbers) describes a boat trailer having an elongate inner frame adapted to be longitudinally displaced therealong. The motion of the inner frame is controlled by two separate and distinct incline assemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,092 (Chambers et al.) discloses a boat trailer having a plurality of position and angle adjustment members configured for transporting a number of different sized boat hulls.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,161 (Sprague) discloses a boat trailer having a pair of elongate, parallelly arranged, longitudinally extending side supports in association with a pair of upwardly and outwardly extending dolphins. A "V-shaped" guide bar positioned proximate the forward end of the trailer is positioned to receive the bow of the boat upon its loading on the trailer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,812 (Byrnes) discloses a boat trailer having a carriage mounted thereon for longitudinal displacement along the trailers. The carriage includes a wheel mounted thereon to support the carriage as it is displaced rearwardly along the trailer.
Common to most, if not all, of the above-described structures is the difficulty of guiding a boat onto or off of the trailer. Most loading and launching activities are performed from inclined concrete ramps which lead into a body of water. Due to the height of many conventional boats, the trailer must be submerged in the water in order for the boat to become buoyant and thereafter be unloaded and eased into the water. As a result, oftentimes any structure, fitted to the boat to act as a guide for aligning the boat with the trailer for loading or launching purposes, becomes ineffective due to its fixed mounting to the trailer frame. Since the trailer is often substantially below the water surface during either loading or unloading operations, the guides are sufficiently distanced from the floating boat to become ineffectual in guiding or aligning the boat.
Furthermore, few trailers, if any, provide for a guiding means which continuously aligns the boat as it either enters or leaves the trailer. Most of the prior trailers include guides which are positioned at spaced intervals along the trailer frame and thereby function to provide an intermittent guide function as opposed to a guide which receives the boat at the end of the trailer and continuously guides the boat to its ultimate resting position on the trailer.
Many trailers require the working efforts of a multiple number of individuals in order to properly load or unload a boat. Typically, one individual must operate a latch and winch mechanism mounted on the trailer, while a second individual stands at the controls of the boat. Understandably, the requirement of multiple operators makes boating a difficult activity for a single individual.
There continues to be a need for a trailer which permits the loading and unloading of a boat by a single individual. Additionally, there continues to be a need for a trailer which at once provides a guide means capable of operating effectively without regard to the trailer being submerged in water while furthermore providing an aligning means which operates continuously during the boat's loading, i.e., from the moment the boat enters the trailer until the moment the boat reaches its loaded or rest orientation. Further, the guide means preferably should guide the boat continuously in unloading from the beginning of the boat's displacement along the length of the trailer until the boat clears the rearmost end of the trailer.